All entries for Monday 21 September 2009

September 21, 2009

Trail riding in Wiltshire and Northamptonshire – R100GS and R1100GS

BMW R100GS PD at Barbury Castle, south of Swindon. A long section of the Ridgeway byway, legally accessible by motorcycles in the summer, starts here.

At the start of the Ridgeway

In Wiltshire the Ridgeway mostly consists of well drained gravel tracks.

Ridgeway

The Ridgeway has some of the best wide open views to be found on an English byway. However, in some areas, deep tractor ruts require more concentrated riding.

Ridgeway views

Once that we had reached the end of the southernmost ridable section of the Ridgeway at Overton Hill, we took another byway to connect with a second stretch of Ridgeway further north. Wiltshire has many excellent byways open to bikes. This great track leads through a beech forest, with gentle hills and glades.

Forest ride

In Northamptonshire, the Banbury Track and Oxford Track are a little more challenging. This stretch, open only to motorcycles, is overgrown and rutted. On a grassier stretch, we both fell off at the same time, struggling through the thick vegetation.

Banbury track

Some of the tracks are barely used. Martin found much less grip on the grass with his Avon Distanzia dual-purpose tyres. My Continental TKC80 off-road tyres were better. We met the farmer (on a quad with his dog). He was friendly and chatted about bikes and the local routes.

Field